Frances Irene Vaughan

Scripture: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."

John 6:47 (NKJV)

Frances Irene Eppler Vaughan passed away November 3rd, 2018, in Mustang, Oklahoma. She was born near Lebanon, Oklahoma on November 30th, 1914, the fourth of seven children born to Myrtle O'dell and William Clark Eppler. She was preceded in death by her husband of more than fifty-six years, Joseph Vaughan, and by her parents, three brothers, and two sisters. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Kay and Neal Wall, Mary and Darrell Griffith, and Teresa and Dennis Elmore: one brother, Bob Eppler; and grandchildren, Jonathan Wall, Kristin Stoots, Tony Wall, Leticia Miles-Reed, Monica Kilhoffer, Justin Miles, Brandi Johnson and Jeanie Moreland. She is also survived by a number of great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Frances Eppler grew up in Lebanon and graduated from high school at Greenville, Oklahoma. She married Joseph Vaughan in 1940. In 1941, she earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from Southeastern State College in Durant, Oklahoma, and was awarded a life certificate in elementary education and a teaching certificate in art for grades 1 through 12. She was also the recipient of the Southeastern State College Art Education Award. Between 1936 and 1940, she taught the first and second grades in Love's Valley, Oklahoma, and then taught grades 1 through 3 in Centreville, Mississippi, for a year during WWII. Following the war, she taught the first grade in Purcell, Oklahoma. In 1949, the Vaughan family moved to Anadarko, Oklahoma, and in 1954, when her youngest child started to school, Frances resumed her career, teaching second grade at Sunset Elementary School in the Anadarko school system; she taught there for twenty-two years. In 1973, she was named Anadarko's Teacher of the Year. She was a member of both the National Education Association and the Oklahoma Education Association. She also held membership in the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, and the Association of Classroom Teachers, holding various offices in each of these professional organizations.

A devoted church member for approximately sixty years, Frances served the First United Methodist Church in Anadarko in a variety of ways, including singing in the Chancel Choir, teaching Vacation Bible School, teaching an adult Sunday School class, participating in the UMW, and serving as church historian, a position that entailed compiling and writing a church history for the church's centennial celebration in 2001. She also created beautiful flower arrangements for the church altar every Sunday for years, a practice that gave her considerable pleasure. She remarked in her later years that she considered her service to the church as one of the most meaning aspects of her life.

Her contributions to the community were not confined to her teaching and church activities. She volunteered at the Anadarko Hospital well into her nineties. She was also active in the Tulip Rose Unit of the Garden Council, serving in all offices of the club and in other positions of leadership. In her younger years, she led Brownie and Camp Fire Girls troops for five years and served the Camp Fire Girls Organization in a variety of other significant ways. Her lifelong interest in art led her to support area cultural pursuits through her memberships in the Anadarko Art League and the Washita Valley Fine Arts Organization.
Frances Vaughan was a tiny woman, but her strength and endurance belied her diminutive size; the impact she made on her family, her church, and her community was tremendous. She liked to say that in life, we all have to do the best we can, and she did just that. She will be greatly missed by those she leaves behind.